By Tristan Weisenbach
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Millie Bobby Brown, the well-known actress who has starred in Netflix hits like “Stranger Things” and “Enola Holmes,” has recently expanded her resume to include being an author.
Brown’s debut book, “Nineteen Steps,” was released on Sept. 12 and is inspired by her own family’s history throughout World War II. However, the actress has received backlash online after posting a photo to Instagram last week of herself next to author Kathleen McGurl, who Brown lists in the photo caption as her “collaborator” on the book.
McGurl’s role as a “collaborator” on the novel can be better described as a “ghostwriter,” or a writer who is hired to create or help create content that will ultimately be credited to a different individual.
Comments on Brown’s Instagram post are mixed, with some Instagram users praising Brown’s newest release while others have criticized her for not listing McGurl as a co-writer on the book cover.
“Congratulations on your book mills !!!! Can’t wait to read it!” one user commented.
“Her name should be on the cover. She was the one who actually wrote the book,” wrote another.
The use of “ghostwriters” is not a new phenomenon. For example, British media personality and model Katie Price hired ghostwriter Rebecca Farnworth to write four of her memoirs throughout her career, according to The Guardian.
Price, however, is not the only celebrity to use a ghostwriter — or “collaborator” — to write a personal memoir or book. Many other books, such as Michelle Obama’s 2018 bestseller “Becoming,” Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book “It Takes A Village” and Caitlyn Jenner’s 2017 memoir “The Secrets of My Life” have all been written with the help of a ghostwriter, according to The New York Post.
These books have been extremely profitable for the celebrity author, with Obama’s memoir selling more than 14 million copies as of 2020 and significantly contributing to the former First Lady’s estimated $70 million net worth.
The release of “Nineteen Steps” has reignited the debate over whether it is ethical for big name celebrities to profit off of the work of ghostwriters without listing them as an official co-author.
It is unclear just how much of the content in Brown’s latest release was actually written herself and how much was written by McGurl. However, it is clear that Brown was at least somewhat involved in the story creation, as the theme and plot of the novel is based on the experiences of her late relative “Nanny Ruth” — something only Brown herself would have knowledge of.
On a recent episode of the talk show “Lorraine,” Brown shared that she already has big ambitions for the future of the story in “Nineteen Steps.” When asked whether her debut novel will be turned into a movie, Brown said “that was the intention behind it.”
Whether the novel will in fact be released as a film is yet to be known, but the future of Brown’s “Nineteen Steps” seems promising.